Devarim – דברים : “Words”
Torah : Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22
Haftarah : Isaiah 1:1–27
Gospels : Acts 1–2

Thought for the Week:

One should always endeavor to communicate God’s word to a person in a manner that will be understood. We should not require others to learn our language before they can learn about the Torah or the Gospel. We must bring the good news to them in their language.

Commentary:

“Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Torah.” (Deuteronomy 1:5) What did that say? Is it possible that Moses had never expounded the Torah to Israel before this time? What had he been doing for the last 40 years? Certainly he had been expounding Torah for all these years, so why does Deuteronomy bother telling us this now? The Tanchuma, an ancient collection of rabbinic commentary, explains that Moses ‘expounded’ the Torah by speaking the words of Deuteronomy in all the seventy tongues of mankind.

In rabbinic literature, the seventy tongues...